


Cover Me

by Headphone_Love



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood and Injury, Gen, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith Knows Something Is Off, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance has secrets, M/M, Pidge | Katie Holt is a Good Friend, Pre-Relationship, Protective Keith (Voltron), Tumblr request, Worried Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 05:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18309035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headphone_Love/pseuds/Headphone_Love
Summary: “Put him in, number two,” Coran’s voice called, Keith being shoved inside. He continued to fight, using everything he could from his shoulder to his fists to pound against the inside of the healing pod.  Hunk stared at him with an apologetic look, conflict written all over his face.Then, Keith was cold.





	Cover Me

**Author's Note:**

> Rating for Language as well as some minor violence and tw: blood. 
> 
> I decided that for the anon that wanted Blood Stained Clothes and Klance, this would be the perfect story to offer you. It connects to another story that I almost made your request, but it didn't blatantly mention the blood/prompt so this one is the one I wrote up for you. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Lance coming along hadn’t been part of the plan, but as the leader, Keith had let it slide.

With their scans of the enemy’s ship from their lions, and the others staying back to help navigate them around, Keith hadn’t had any concerns at all. He was positive this would be a success, all things considered.

And it had been...mission wise.

“Put him in first!” Keith screamed as Hunk and Pidge held him back, Lance lying on his the examination table while Coran and Allura looked over him. The logical part of Keith knew this was necessary; they needed to ensure that nothing had gotten into the wound.

Lance’s eyes had closed long before they arrived, at least to Keith. His skin was pale to the point that Keith nearly bulldozed his fellow paladins to get to him so he could put him into the pod himself. “Now! He’s...the blood…” he tried to explain, eyeing his hands, clothes, and even the floor.

There was too much, he could be...

“Put him in, number two,” Coran’s voice called, Keith being shoved inside. He continued to fight, using everything he could from his shoulder to his fists to pound against the inside of the healing pod. Hunk stared at him with an apologetic look, conflict written all over his face.

Then, Keith was cold.

* * *

 

_“Shit,” Keith whispered, charging forward and cutting through a few of them with ease. “Lance, you got your communicator working?”_

_The sounds of the other shooting were louder in his ears, even with his heart pounding._

_“Not yet, mullet,” Lance called back, the two wondering how the hell they managed to go down just when they needed them most. Not only were they dealing with bots, but soldiers mixed to the point where Keith couldn’t keep up with who he was fighting. In a way, Keith guessed that was something they had gotten lucky with. If they had only been surrounded with only soldiers coming at them they might have already been dead._

_As Keith turned, his eyes went wide at the sound of a gun powering up. He didn’t have time to move, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lance already ahead of him, slicing through the weapon with ease. A moment later, the bot was on the ground in pieces. Too shocked to say anything, Keith watched as Lance stood with a broad smile, relief in his eyes that Keith could see even from the distance between them._

_Keith was stuck trying to process the fact that Lance had a sword, as well as the fact that he has used it well enough to save his life. He had also had the foresight to help him before he knew he needed it himself, and he couldn’t help but wonder what he’d missed in his time away from Voltron._

_“Thanks, Lance,” Keith breathed out, not realising that he’d been holding his breath._

_Lance swung his sword around with a grin. “Always gotta have the leader’s back as the right hand, don’t I?”_

_“Yeah, yeah,” Keith said with a bit of fondness, moving towards Lance over the debris of leftover bot. “Don’t get too cocky, there. We still need to get back to the others,” he reminded as Lance waved a hand._

_“Well, going through the only door in the room should be our first step,” Lance teased, his bayard returning to his normal sniper. “Maybe it was just this room that…” he began, opening the door as he came face to face with a very angry looking Galra soldier._

_“Shi—”_

_It was too fast for even Keith to spot._

_A few blasts of Lance’s bayard and the Galra was down, but so was_ **_Lance_ ** _._

_Keith cursed under his breath as Lance’s bayard disappeared from his grasp, hand instead shakily ghosting over the area. Lance didn't let him get a look, though, insisting they move before anymore showed up._

_“But…”_

_“Now!” Lance demanded, more a plea than an order._

_So Keith ran._

_He ran with Lance’s arm around him, Lance playing cover and shooting anyone who got in their way._

_Even when his breathing grew laboured, he continued to shoot and make sure that Keith had openings to get out. Even with the added weight, Keith kept them moving because he refused to let his fears come to fruition. That, and if he stopped Lance might not make it._

_The thought pumped ice into his veins._

_“C’mon, Black. Get us out of here,” Keith shouted, having dropped to the ground with Lance once inside his lion. Black did as told, and they were off in an instant, albeit roughly. This wasn’t good for Lance, the paladin arching in pain at the feeling of the weapon digging deeper into his side._

_“You’ll be fine,” Keith insisted, Lance swallowing hard and nodding. The two didn’t talk much as Keith began to remove the top of his armor. He used his bayard to tear at some fabric, placing it to the side for future use._

_“Got me good,” Lance choked out, face scrunched in pain. “Low blow, though, am I right?”_

_“Yeah, low blow,” Keith said, voice sounding far off and barely audible. His current dilemma was debating whether removing Lance’s armor now would be better in the long run. He would need to get into the pod immediately once they removed the knife from his side, but if the knife had gone straight through the armor then..._

_“You gotta do it.”_

_“What?” Keith snapped, not meaning to, but far too amped to pay much attention to his tone._

_“You gotta or the armor...it’ll cause more damage if you don’t…” Lance whispered, Keith sucking in a breath. Lance wasn’t his right hand for no reason, it seemed. “Then just apply pressure and…”_

_“I can’t.”_

_“What?” Lance asked, echoing the other from earlier. “What do you mean you can’t?”_

_“I can’t...you could…” Keith insisted. “It’s too dangerous, we’ll wait until we’re back and Coran and Allura can help but right now...” he said without room for argument._

_Lance eyed him for a moment, the look in his eyes one that Keith knew well. His eyes moved to the fabric on the floor, lips curling into a small smile.  He looked up at Black’s ceiling, shutting his eyes as he tightened his grip on the weapon. Keith’s eyes went wide as he parted his lips._

_“Don’t—!”_

* * *

 

Keith’s eyes opened instantly, the cold that surrounded him overwhelming. He clawed at the air, falling to the floor as he heard someone cursing and then steps. Through his coughing, he felt hands on his shoulder.

“Keith, you’re out early!”

Looking up to see Pidge staring at him, he couldn’t help but notice how her eyes flickered to his torn shirt. He must look like a mess.

“Let’s...get you cleaned up?” Pidge asked, Keith shaking his head as he moved to stand. He could feel the way his knees protested, especially after the very ungraceful manner he had fallen out of the pod. Still, that didn’t matter at the moment.

“Not leaving,” Keith said quietly, voice hoarse even to his own ears. “Not until he gets out.”

He could feel Pidge watching how he moved towards the examination tables to take a seat, but his own gaze was locked on the pod that held Lance. She frowned, following him but keeping her distance which was appreciated more than Keith could admit at the moment.

“You realise he still has hours...maybe even a day or two before he gets out?” Pidge brought up, Keith squeezing his eyes closed, arms wrapped around himself.

“I know.”

“And you still won’t at least rest up before then?”

Keith gave her a look—one he wasn’t sure was angry or pained—and the youngest sighed, turning to leave and tossing her arms in the air.

“I’ll _guess_ there is nothing left to do other than to get you a blanket, then,” Pidge began in an exasperated tone, looking over her shoulder with a smile on her lips. “Hang tight while I do that.”

Watching the door close behind her, Keith felt his anger subside a bit. Pidge was probably the most confident in dealing with him, even at times like this. It was probably why no one else was assigned watch if they had all known he would be out before Lance.

He’d have to thank Pidge properly once he was back up and running.

* * *

 

Keith sat with a blanket around himself, still refusing to change considering that meant he would have to leave to do so. So instead, Pidge kept her word and brought him some blankets and a pillow so he could sleep on the tables if needed. She also brought Hunk, who had some food and looked like a wounded puppy when Keith met his eyes.

Raising a hand, Keith patted Hunk on the upper arm and shook his head. “You did as told.”

Hunk held out the plate with a nod. “You were covered in blood and we thought it was yours because your shirt was all ripped up,” he explained, frowning as he looked over at Lance. “So we had to be careful. It was only after the pod's reports came back that it showed you just had some cuts and bruising with a minor concussion. That blood was all his...wasn’t it?”

Keith didn’t answer, but he did take the plate quietly. Hunk watched with a hopeless expression, looking between Lance and him for a few moments. His eyes ultimately landed on the ground, eyes closed tightly.

“If I had known….”

“If _we_ had known,” Pidge corrected, patting Hunk on the back in understanding. “We never would have dismissed your words, Keith. Allura and Coran were just doing what they thought best as second command.”

“I’m not angry at any of you. I don’t think I really was to begin with.”

Seeing them tense at that, Keith attempted a smile, taking a spoon full of goo into his mouth. It tasted like nothing, but Keith wasn’t sure it ever did, so kept eating. Hunk and Pidge were focused on the scans, making sure everything was going well with Lance’s pod and talking amongst themselves.

Keith took the time to backtrack, trying to remember where it had all gone wrong. The wrong turn, yeah, obviously, but Lance in his disoriented state had mentioned how he had known.

Known _what,_ Keith wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, it had to have been huge for him to be willing to put himself in such a state.

But it didn’t make sense: any of it. There was no way for Lance to have known they’d take that turn or that he would end up getting stabbed where he did.

Lance switching out his sniper for his sword crashed over him, along with the look of relief that Lance had given him. Keith placed the plate of goo down, eyes raising to Lance’s pod in curiosity.

“Lance’s scans came back pretty good,” Hunk called over. “No infections of the wound or any foreign bodies in his bloodstream. His wound has also healed up nicely, but it might scar.”

A scar was better than dead.

“Hey, it’ll match the one he got from breaking his arm as a kid,” Pidge brought up, but her smile was off.

“Or the one he got falling down the stairs that one time?” Hunk offered, pointing to his head as Keith paused.

It was such an off-topic thing to talk about, but Keith didn’t have it in him to tell them to focus. Hunk seemed far too happy to divulge about Lance’s clumsy child days considering the situation his best friend was in at the moment. Keith understood why he would, as well. The idea of Lance getting through those things meant he would get through this one too.

“At the Garrison, he’d always talk about times where he was in the right place at the right time...kinda like in the movies,” Hunk explained to Keith as the leader pushed air from his nose.  

Pidge crossed her arms and shook his head. “I mean, as weird as it is, he had a point. He apparently caught his sister falling off the monkey bars or something. Broke his arm. Apparently, if he hadn’t done it, she’d have cracked her head clean open. She got away with a cut on her forehead.”

Keith perked up.  “Really?”

“Heard it from his sister herself. Even she said it was fate.”

Feeling a bit lightheaded, Keith shot a look to the pod again.

“Idiot,” Keith whispered, Hunk and Pidge nodding in agreement, not realising the change in their leader.

“Yeah, he is, but he means well. Just goes to show he was meant to be a paladin from the start!” Hunk said with pride in his tone.

Keith agreed, but a part of him wondered if Lance would have been safer back on Earth and away from them all.

“Your virus...was it successful?”

The subject change was abrupt, but Keith didn’t want to linger on his thoughts at that point in time. When Lance woke up, he’d have more than enough time to ask him all about it.

“It was more than successful. We were able to take all of the remaining blade information from them without so much as a snag in the road.”

Good, Keith thought as he handed Hunk his bowl. He laid his head down on his pillow and curled up.

While watching Lance, he managed to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

Keith was woken up by the sound of beeping, sitting up instantly as he looked around. He worked to figure out where he was and what time it was until he saw Allura holding Lance.

Lance was out...and from the way his eyes fluttered drowsily, he was awake.

Sitting up, Keith watched his every movement. It was only a matter of time before the other met his eyes.

There it was again: relief.

Keith stood instantly, moving towards Allura and taking the red paladin off her hands.

“Keith, you’re up as well,” Allura murmured, more shocked than concerned. He nodded at her, more focused on getting Lance to a table so he could sit. “I trust you wish to be alone with him to discuss what happened,” she said, wringing her hands nervously.

“I’m not mad, Allura,” Keith assured, not missing how her shoulders relaxed at his words. “But yeah...some alone time would be good.”

She was more than happy to leave them to their overdue conversation, Lance stealing Keith’s blanket to warm himself. Keith placed his hands on either side of Lance, resting on the edge of the table to ensure he got his answers.

“How’re you feeling?”

Lance tried to grin, it coming across as a weak smile. “Great. Never felt better.”

Keith’s grip on the table tightened. “Does it hurt?”

“Nope. I’m sore beyond belief though,” Lance admitted. “How are you not? We got out around the same time, right?”

Taking a moment, Keith looked down at his clothes, then Lance’s. It wasn’t stupid of him to assume they had both gotten out at the same time. Any sane person would have definitely removed all traces of blood from their body and clothes the moment they got the chance.

Keith wondered if he would classify as sane with all the things he’d done in his life.

“Yeah, same time,” Keith lied.

“Damn. And here I thought I’d win,” Lance joked, but Keith couldn’t manage a smile when his mind was running a mile a minute.

“You knew.”

Lance raised a brow, neck extending as if he didn’t understand. “I knew?”

“You knew I was gonna get hurt. Didn’t you?”

Any peace that Lance had gotten back drained instantly once he processed the question. He moved to stand, but Keith refused to let him leave.

“Answer me, Lance.”

“I’m tired, alright?”

“You can sleep after you give me a yes or no.”

Lance, considering being fresh out of the pods, shoved Keith away with a considerable amount of strength. Either that or Keith was still weaker than he had anticipated.

“Lance...Lance!”

Keith followed him, refusing to let him get away. They stalked through the halls as he trailed behind his partner. “Tell me how you knew, Lance.”

“Not now, mullet.”

His voice was heavy and Keith knew he should let it go for now, but he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and grabbing Lance’s shoulder. Lance smacked it away with a cold look that made Keith stop where he stood. The sight of Lance’s back as he ran towards his room without another word had him feeling oddly empty.

“This isn’t the end of it,” Keith said to himself.

He would get to the bottom of what happened back there.

For Lance's sake, he had to.


End file.
